I don't think anyone has one yet, as they were only released a relatively short time ago

Who sells them? I.e I know STM make them, but can you get them through any of the low cost channels, or are they only available though the high cost routes like Digikey and Mouser and selected premium suppliers?

Edit. Digikey want $15 plus carriage $$ for the 103 version

And the 103 only runs at 48Mhz

I think STM missed the boat as I can get. 72Mhz Maple mini for $5 including carriage.

Edit.
sorry I just realised its not 103 it's a lower spec device, which explains the slow speed.

f4 series version seems only a few dollars more so is better value, but I think the spec on Farmell / element 14 is incorrect as it shows 48mhz for the F4 as well.

To be honest, I think we are not the target group for the nucleo series. The are used in bigger companies and so they can easily try out (same form factor) which chip can be used for their final product. For us it's not understandable given a few bugs more getting a F4 (or a bigger variant of the F103xx) and buying the smaller one. But if you calculate in industry of 1.000.000+ number of pieces, than there is no sense putting in the 5 cent bigger MCU into the final thing.
BUT, BUT(!)
a maple mini with an onboard st-link v2.1 sounds sexy

Because these are free as samples or really low cost to purchase, considering that some have lots of sensors aboard, they're rather popular with hobbyists and esp. students. Not really intended to be Arduino-kin, they come with HAL and CubeMX sample code.

They're of course focused on get design wins in automotive, HVAC, security. Whether these are free, $5 or $15 matters little. The are NOT intended to generate profit unto themselves , but rather, make it easy to learn the ST products and dev. tools.

I'm not sure STM have a coherent strategy with their "Arduino" compatibility

Yes, they do sort of support some Arduino things... to attract students. But not to attract design win decision makers.

ST et al pursue BIG design wins, leading to hundreds of $M in sales in the verticals, smartcards, etc. Arduino is just to get students to remember ST when they get an engineering job. A marketing expense. Like Apple does with donations to schools.

Go to one of the frequent ST hands-on seminars and get free boards. Or just buy some and learn. This a far different world than messing with too-cheap China stuff in hardware, and Arduino libraries that are all too often buggy and most always myopic about coexistence with other I/O software.

Most of this stuff is less than a sidewalk cafe lunch on the Champs-Élysées.

Hi mates,
It's my first post and kind of a newbie in the STM32 programing.Just a bit of arduino as well ...
I'd like to buy this preaty neat F303K8 or K6 to use it on arduino. It's got a builtin linker and the board is very tiny !
So,I wonder if someone could provide me the procedure to install the firmware on arduino?
I'm very keen to start with!
Cheers